Local news, social integration, and community participation: Hierarchical linear modeling of contextual and cross-level effects

Abstract

This study explores the cross-level interactions of local media use with individual and community factors, in particular, local print news use, using a multi-level analysis of community participation. Findings show local print news readership, an essential constituent of communal solidarity, increases the likelihood of community participation both at the individual level and as a function of readership in communities with higher levels of social interaction. Cross-level effects are also observed between individual-level differences in social interaction and home ownership and contextual variation in print news readership. © 2005 AEJMC.